Notes from Thursday’s OTA

FOXBORO ‘ Just wrapped up another OTA session on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium. The practice ran just under two hours, and was held in shirts and shorts under mostly overcast skies. Here are a few quick notes.

‘¢The following players were not on the field: wide receiver Taylor Price, safety Brandon McGowan, defensive lineman Kade Weston, offensive lineman Logan Mankins, offensive tackle Matt Light, offensive tackle Nick Kaczur and defensive lineman Ty Warren. Meanwhile, tight end Aaron Hernandez was on the field but was in sweats, and did not participate in practice. In addition, safety Patrick Chung was wearing a red non-contact jersey.

‘¢Wes Welker followed the same routine as his previous OTA appearances. He was present for roughly the first 30 minutes, going through drills with the rest of the pass-catchers before leaving for the Fieldhouse. While on the field, he looked pretty much the same as he was in the earlier OTA sessions ‘ no problems with cuts. Welker showed up at the end of practice and walked off the field before the rest of his teammates.

‘¢Without Light and Mankins, Sebastian Vollmer took the bulk of the reps at left tackle, while Mark LeVoir was at right tackle, filling Vollmer’s usual spot. In place of Mankins, Dan Connolly got the bulk of the reps at left guard with what appeared to be a reasonable facsimile of the starting offense.

‘¢Tom Brady looked a little out of sync at times with some receivers at the start of practice, overthrowing and underthrowing a series of balls at the start of practice, a sequence that included a rare misconnection with Randy Moss and an overthrow to Edelman on a deep ball. (There were also some drops as well.) As things went on, however, it appeared that whatever issues Brady were quickly resolved, and he had a nice finish to the afternoon.

‘¢At the end of practice, veteran Stephen Neal could be seen going over a series of techniques with rookie John Wise. Neal and Wise were both were collegiate wrestlers, and it appears more and more that Neal has reached out to take Wise under his wing.

‘¢Owner Robert Kraft made an appearance at 11:45 and stayed until the end of practice.